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Documentary
The invention of trains transformed everything about how humans lived. From the movement of goods and population, the design of cities, to conquest and warfare, there are few aspects of civilization that were left untouched by these machines.
One of the great advances of the 19th Century, the railways were a tool of empire. How did the Victorians use them to expand their influence?
From the Channel Tunnel to carrying iron ore in the Australian Outback, experts discuss the history and the future of freight trains.
Intended as an efficient, economical way of moving freight, the emergence of express trains revolutionised society with the demand for fast travel.
The world's 10 busiest metro systems carry more than 22 billion passengers every year. How has the train shaped cities - and changed the world?
As weapons and transport, trains transformed the battlefield - from huge railway guns and hospital trains to those taking victims to death camps.
Trains have changed the way people see the world - and each other. What is it that makes them so special?
Narrator
This series looks at the iconic trains that have done the most to change history. Each train is an engineering marvel, each one a leap forward in the history of trains and railways. But more than this, these are the trains that made the modern world. These are the trains that unify nations and open up continents, that miraculously shrink distance and create a global economy, changing how we trade, what we buy and make and sell. They change how we live and even how we think, speeding up our lives and expanding our horizons. These are the machines that made us modern. Each episode features one iconic train and describes its impact on railway history and on history in general, combining archive and expert testimony with actuality and hands-on engineering demonstrations.
Chris Barrie's Massive Speed follows on from the series Massive Engines and Massive Machines , both of which were also presented by petrolhead Chris (of Red Dwarf fame). In Massive Speed Chris turns his attention to the evolution of machines designed purely to achieve maximum speed. He travels the world searching for the most thrilling, speed-packed machines he can find and introduces audiences to huge engined bikes, planes, trucks and boats that battle it out in power races. Whether it's crossing an otherwise impenetrable snow drift, desert or swamp at the speed of an Olympic sprinter or cutting through the atmosphere at six times the speed of sound, Chris tells the stories of the greatest achievements of speed design and engineering. In each episode Chris follows the evolution of a specific genre of machine by testing them and reveals both the classsic stories and secret histories that surround each of them.
